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08/11/2004
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1) “Yerkir” Editor Calls Azeri War Statements Absurd
2) Armenian, Azeri, and Turk Delegations Clash at Youth Festival
3) Longtime ARF Activist Avedis Ispenjian Passes Away
4) Shelling Clouds Russia, Georgia Talks On Separatist Row
5) Local Public Official Urges Leaders of His Own Party to Support Schiff
Amendment

1) “Yerkir” Editor Calls Azeri War Statements Absurd

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Responding to the recent hostile statements
made by
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, ARF Armenia Supreme Body member and Editor in
Chief of “Yerkir” newspaper Spartak Seiranian said the appeal “to declare war
on Armenia and liberate Karabagh” was made to incite the public.
On August 5, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that the chief
spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, Colonel Ramiz Melikov, publicly
stated that “within the next 25 years there will exist no state of Armenia in
the South Caucasus.” He added: “Modern Armenia is built on historical
Azerbaijani lands…I think that in 25-30 years’ time, its territory will
again
come under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction.” Seiranian called such statements
“absurd,” adding it is meant for the uneducated people.
According to Seiranian, if Azeris believe they have such military force that
can fight and win, one should not forget that the Armenian fighters are also
ready to die for their homeland. “The Azeri warrior isn’t ready to die for
Karabagh, as he knows very well that Karabagh isn’t his land; on the contrary,
the Armenian fighter knows that he defends his homeland, and that’s why he
will
go to all lengths,” he said. Seiranian, recalling the victory of Armenian
troops in the Karabagh war, stated confidently that if the situation recurs in
the future, the outcome would not be any different.

2) Armenian, Azeri, and Turk Delegations Clash at Youth Festival

BARCELONA–The 3rd World Youth Festival is currently underway in Barcelona,
Spain with the participation of 10,000 young people from around the world.
The Festival–the only event completely designed by and for youth
organizations from all over the world–provides a unique opportunity for
regional youth platforms and organizations from all over the world to share
ideas and projects.
The ARF Youth delegation is participating as well, with two representatives
from Lebanon’s Zavarian Student Association. Aware of the festival’s purpose
and confident that today’s youth will work together to bring about new
perspectives and justice on various issues, the ARF Youth delegation used
their
designated poster board to inform the festival participants about the Armenian
genocide. The Turkish and Azeri delegation angrily demanded that the pictures
and information on the genocide be removed from the poster board; however, the
ARF Youth delegation refused, resulting in commotion.
The festival’s organizing committee, composed of various international youth
organizations including the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) of
which the ARF Youth is a member of, devoted a considerable amount of time to
the situation during their August 10 meeting. The IUSY representative
supported
the Armenian delegation and their work during the meeting, describing it as a
basic human right to express their views and opinions.
The end result was that the Azeri and Turk demand would not be met as
doing so
would defeat the purpose of the festival.
In response to the decision, and in addition to appealing to their embassies
to mediate the situation, the Azeri and Turk delegates prepared their own
display boards and placed them next to the ARF Youth’s poster board as a sign
of protest.
The ARF Bureau Youth office officially appealed to the festival’s organizing
committee stating, “The ARF Youth is confident that participating in the World
Youth Festival would provide a unique platform to be ‘seen and heard’ as
stated
in the festival’s goals…the latest developments, however, show otherwise, as
certain groups or delegations try to pressure our representatives from being
‘seen and heard.'”
Referring to the latest statements by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry asserting
that “in 25-30 years’ times its territory will again come under Azerbaijan’s
jurisdiction,” as well as the killing of an Armenian officer by an Azeri
during
a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest, the ARF Bureau Youth Office
demanded that the organizing committee guarantee the safety of the Armenian
youth delegation.
The ARF Bureau Youth Office expressed gratitude to the IUSY representative
for
being resolute on the issue and supporting the Armenian youth.
As of August 11, the situation remained calm as the ARF Youth representatives
carries on its work without any hindrances.

3) Longtime ARF Activist Avedis Ispenjian Passes Away

The family of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Western Region sustained a
tremendous loss on the morning of Wednesday, August 11 when longtime party
activist Avedis Ispenjian passed away at the age of 75.
A devoted member of the ARF, Ispenjian had served on the party’s Central
Committee’s both in Lebanon and the United States. Ispenjian played an active
role during the Lebanese civil war, when he represented the ARF during
political negotiations.
Avedis Ispenjian’s memory will not fade, and his life’s work will serve as a
source of inspiration to future generations.

4) Shelling Clouds Russia, Georgia Talks On Separatist Row

MOSCOW (AFP)–Georgian troops and separatist forces in South Ossetia exchanged
sporadic shelling and gunfire Wednesday, clouding talks between Russia and
Georgia on calming disputes on the status of the pro-Russian region.
“The situation is worrying,” said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
after
signing a joint communique with his Georgia counterpart Georgy Baramidze, RIA
Novosti reported. Baramidze said during a following press briefing that
“Russia
and Georgia must become predictable neighbors.”
But he conceded the two sides discussed “uneasy matters” while his top deputy
in Tbilisi accused the Russian of opening fire on Georgian troops.
Officials said six people were injured in the cross-border shooting which has
grown more frequent as Georgia’s new president, Mikhail Saakashvili, tries to
win back control over his fractured republic.
“The attack came from armored personnel carries that carried the emblem of
Russian peacekeepers” in the region, he said.
All three sides accused each other of launching the attacks first.
“We held negotiations to cease fire, and fighting would stop for 20 minutes,
but then it would resume again with greater force,” Russian defense ministry
spokesman Nikolai Baranov told Rossia television.
The Caucasus republic, once the Soviet Union’s richest, fell into pieces
after
the superpower’s breakup in 1991, with three regions–Ajaria, South Ossetia
and
Abkhazia–seeking either independence or rule from Moscow.
Saakashvili has won back Ajaria, a key pocket on the Black Sea that oversees
oil trade, with its leader leaving for self-imposed exile in Moscow in May.
But his strategy for the other two regions, which have few ethnic links with
Georgia, is unclear.
Military threats from Georgia have been followed by vows to resolve the
situation through dialogue, while Moscow issues increasingly aggressive
statements as it grows more sensitive to Saakashvili’s drive for military and
economic assistance from the United States.

5) Local Public Official Urges Leaders of His Own Party to Support Schiff
Amendment

LOS ANGELES–Prominent Los Angeles attorney and Rolling Hills Estates City
Councilmember Frank Zerunyan has issued an open letter to Congressional
leaders
urging them to end their opposition to the Schiff Amendment. The letter also
strongly encourages the leadership to bring House Resolution 193 to a vote.
“[Mr. Speaker] let the American people through their Representatives decide
the
fate of the resolution. Demonstrated to our allies the true meaning of
Democracy. I expect this of you and the leadership in Congress,” wrote
Zerunyan.
The Schiff Amendment, which was passed voice vote on July 15, 2004, would
prevent the Republic of Turkey from spending US foreign aid dollars to lobby
against legislation pending in Congress that recognizes the Armenian Genocide.
One day after the Schiff amendment was successfully offered to the House
Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2005, House Republican
leaders issued a statement demanding that the [Schiff amendment] be dropped in
conference. The leadership also threatened not to bring House Resolution
193 to
a vote despite its popularity in the House of Representatives. The Resolution
has more than 110 co-sponsors and was successfully voted out of the House
Judiciary Committee on May 21, 2003.
“Councilman Zerunyan’s open letter to Congressional leaders provides a
thoughtful foundation for these very leaders to end their opposition to the
Schiff amendment and House Resolution 193,” commented ANCA-WR Executive
Director Ardashes Kassakhian. “The Councilman’s words provide a compelling
case
for our many Republican friends in Congress to convince Speaker Hastert and
Majority Leader DeLay to support the Schiff amendment and a vote on the
resolution.”
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the
United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively
advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ha’aretz, Israel
Aug 12 2004

Armenian lobbyists are facing a lost cause

By Nathan Guttman

Activists again failed to obtain U.S. congressional recognition of
the Armenian genocide. The obstacles they face include America’s ties
with Turkey and the Jewish lobby.

WASHINGTON – For a moment it seemed to Armenian activists in the U.S.
that they had made progress toward obtaining U.S. congressional
recognition of the massacre perpetrated by the Turks against the
Armenian people 98 years ago. U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, a
California Democrat, succeeded on July 15 in getting approval from
the House of Representatives for an amendment to the Foreign
Operations Appropriations bill, which would bar Turkey from using the
annual American aid it receives to hire political lobbyists in
Washington to lobby against the decision recognizing the Armenian
genocide. Ostensibly, a marginal amendment and not terribly
important, but in the eyes of supporters of the Armenian cause in the
U.S., even approval of a minor amendment is considered an
achievement.

The battle to gain recognition of the Armenian genocide by the U.S.
Congress is transformed annually into a fight between the small group
of Armenian supporters in Congress and the rest of the world – the
Turkish representatives and the lobbyists working on their behalf,
the administration, the supports of the administration in Congress,
and also several of the large Jewish organizations. When the U.S.
tries to maintain good relations with Turkey, the price is paid by
those who want to see the American Congress include the Armenian
genocide in the decision denouncing such actions, Resolution 193,
which also recognizes the Armenian genocide as such, approval of
which has been delayed.

The minor achievement in Congress, which is now referred to as the
Schiff Amendment, did not last long. Republican leaders in the House
of Representatives – Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt – issued an especially
sharply worded statement the day after the amendment was approved, in
which they made it clear that the amendment was unacceptable to them
and that they would seek to annul it when the Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill came before the conference committee that
attempts to bridge the gap between the Senate and House of
Representatives positions, before a bill is sent to the president for
his signature. When the House leadership mobilizes to kill a bill,
chances are the effort will be successful and therefore it seems that
despite the Schiff Amendment, no one will deduct from U.S. aid to
Turkey the sums it uses to finance activities against the resolution
recognizing the Armenian genocide.

`The resolution is dead’

Even the chances of House Resolution 193 now seem slimmer than ever,
given that at the conclusion of their statement, the House majority
leaders declared that “Furthermore, we have no intention of
scheduling H.Res. 193, as reported out of the Judiciary Committee in
April, during the remainder of this Congress.” The practical
significance of that is the resolution is a lost cause. Elizabeth
Chouldjian, of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
believes there is a still a chance for getting the amendment passed.
The organization is currently urging its supporters to call and write
to the House of Representatives in order to overturn the decision of
the House leadership and nevertheless schedule a vote on the
resolution. “We’re getting good response in the House of
Representatives and have 40 co-sponsors on a similar resolution in
the Senate,” she said, but history teaches that even interest groups
that are stronger than the Armenian lobby have no chance when the
administration and the Congressional leadership are working against
them. Another Armenian activist openly admitted that “the resolution
is dead” and this year again there is no chance of passing the
resolution that recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Don’t upset Turkey

The main obstacle facing supporters of the Armenian cause in the U.S.
and their attempts to gain recognition for the Armenian genocide is
the administration’s basic position and that of many others, whereby
friendship with Turkey is more important than anything else. The
Turkish government, via its diplomatic representatives and lobbyists,
has made it very clear to the Americans that any recognition of the
Armenian genocide will be perceived in Ankara as a slap in the face
and will adversely affect ties between the two countries.

So, for example, when France was considering a similar law, the Turks
threatened a series of sanctions and in the end recalled their
ambassador from Paris for six months. In the U.S., the situation is
much more sensitive – the Americans need Turkey as a crucial ally in
its region, as a base for U.S. forces and primarily, to maintain
relative quiet in northern Iraq. “Our relationship with Turkey is too
important to us to allow it to be in any way damaged by a poorly
crafted and ultimately meaningless amendment,” said senior House
leaders in their reaction to the Schiff Amendment. The administration
maintains a similar position. The debate does not revolve around the
question of whether there was an Armenian genocide or its scope, but
around contemporary politics and Turkey’s possible reaction if
someone upsets them with regard to this issue.

The Jewish community in the U.S. and the Israel issue are also
entwined in the pressure campaign preventing approval of the
resolution. “The community is certainly a player on this issue,” said
a key Jewish activist in Washington, who like many others involved in
the issue, asked to remain off the record. Representatives of Jewish
organizations reported “a sense of discomfort,” as one described it,
when coming to explain their position on the Armenian resolution; on
one hand, the Jews as a community are sensitive to the tragedy
experienced by the Armenian people, but on the other hand, there are
Israel-Turkey relations to consider. “We have always had a level of
uncertainty regarding the balance that should be kept between the
moral factors and the strategic interests,” one Jewish organization
official cautiously explained.

Last year, Jewish organizations, primarily the American Jewish
Committee (AJC), have been more active in thwarting the resolution
acknowledging the Armenian genocide. This year the politicians
managed of their own accord and the resolution will be postponed even
without the involvement of Jewish organizations. But a central
activists in a Jewish organization involved in this matter clarified
that if necessary, he would not hesitate to again exert pressure to
ensure the resolution is not passed and the Turks remain satisfied.
The same activist said he had received numerous requests in the past
to work against the Armenian cause in Congress. “The State Department
asked us, other people in the administration did, even the Turkish
Jewish community asked us to act on this issue,” he said. The
prevailing opinion among the large Jewish organizations is that
“Turkey’s relations with the United States and Israel are too
important for us to deal with this subject,” according to one
community activist who was involved in blocking Resolution 193 last
year. The more expansive explanation, offered in meetings and
discussions, is that “the Armenian genocide is a matter for
historians, not for legislators.”

Even though ties between Israel and Turkey are the determining factor
in decision-making in the Jewish community, there is also some weight
to the matter of definition. The American term proposed in the
resolution refers to “genocide” of the Armenians, while the Nazis’
acts against the Jews during World War II are defined as “Holocaust.”
The distinction does indeed exist, but according to many Jewish
activists, there are some who feel discomfort over the mention of the
Armenian genocide alongside the Jewish Holocaust, for fear of
cheapening the concept of a holocaust.

The Jewish community’s involvement in the issue of the Armenian
genocide is affected by the status of Israel-Turkey relations. One
senior organizational official related that during the honeymoon
years of Turkish-Israeli ties, the Jewish organizations were more
enthusiastic about openly helping Turkey thwart previous
Armenian-related resolutions in Congress. Now, he adds, since ties
have cooled off somewhat, many Jewish activists are trying to lower
their profile in this matter. The organized Jewish community in the
U.S. has close ties with the Turkish government and one of Turkish
Prime Minister Racep Tayep Erdogan’s senior advisers even promised
recently at a Washington meeting with a Jewish audience that
Erdogan’s criticism of Israel was misunderstood and that Turkey will
do everything to restore ties to the way they were.

Armenians for Kerry

The insistence of the administration and Congressional Republicans to
bar the resolution on Armenian genocide does not make President
George Bush very popular among Armenians on the eve of elections. One
of the large Armenian organizations in the U.S. has already publicly
endorsed Kerry and the Democrats have two groups of Armenians for
Kerry working for them. So far, no Armenian group has voiced support
for Bush. But the Armenian community’s electoral power is not
significant. There an currently an estimate 1-1.5 million Americans
of Armenian descent, but most are second, third or fourth-generation
immigrants and therefore, not all of them vote based on the
candidates’ views on faraway Armenia. “There are those who base their
decision on the Armenian issue, those who vote only based on their
political views and those who vote based on different reasons
altogether,” explained Ross Vartian, the executive director of the
Armenian Assembly of America.

However, the Armenian community has also kept track of President
Bush’s record. He promised in his 2000 election campaign to recognize
the Armenian genocide and after his election worked to thwart such
resolutions; he allocated a smaller amount of foreign aid to Armenia
than he had recommended to Congress and favored issues relating to
Azerbaijan over Armenian ones; and the Armenians in the U.S. were
insulted when Bush’s administration announced that Armenians residing
in the U.S. would be required to register at the offices of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, as foreigners from Arab and
Muslim countries were required to do after September 11. Following
pressure from the community, the decision was retracted after 48
hours.

Next year, the world will mark the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide. Activists in the U.S. hope the international pressure and
perhaps also the results of the U.S. election will enable them to
obtain approval of the resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide
in the next session of Congress. Past experience shows that the
chances of that happening are slim.

San Antonio Express , TX
Aug 11 2004

Past Summer Olympics at a glance

About 776 B.C.: A speed demon from the Greek city of Elis was the
first Olympic champion. Of course, the first Olympics were limited to
one event, a sprint under 200 meters called the stadion, and to
Greeks only.

708 B.C.: The pentathlon became part of the Olympics, with five
events: The stadion, the diaulos (a sprint covering two lengths of
the stadium), the dolichos (a longer race of varying length), the
long jump and the discus.

692 B.C.: Pantakles of Athens claimed the first repeat championship,
earning his second prized olive wreath in the stadion .

512 B.C.: The longest winning streak in Olympics history is snapped,
as wrestler Milton of Kronon is beaten. Milton won the youth division
of the wrestling in 540 B.C., then five adult titles in a row,
through 516 B.C.

396 B.C.: Kyniska, daughter of the king of Sparta, was the first
woman to be listed as an Olympic champion. Her victory in the
four-horse chariot race was notable because married women were not
allowed to even watch the games, much less participate. She beat the
rule on a technicality – the winner’s wreath went to the owner of the
chariot, not the driver.

A.D. 369: The last recorded champion of the ancient Olympics was
boxer Varasdates, the prince of Armenia. In 393, the emperor of Rome
abolished the games, calling them a pagan ritual.

1896: The first modern Olympic Games, brainchild of the Frenchman
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, were held in Athens.

1900: Holding the Olympics as part of the Paris world’s fair turned
out to be a disaster, as the events were lost amid the fair and
spread out over five months.

1904: The next games were little better, scattered over 41/2 months
as part of the St. Louis world’s fair.

1908: London put on the games with only 10 months’ lead time,
erecting a multipurpose stadium that included tracks for running and
cycling, a soccer field, a swimming pool and a platform for wrestling
and gymnastics.

1912: Stockholm raised the bar for future Olympics, introducing
electronic timing and public-address systems. U.S. athlete Jim Thorpe
was so dominant in the decathlon that his gold-medal score in 1912
would have been good enough for a medal 36 years later.

1920: After the 1916 Games, scheduled for Berlin, were canceled,
Antwerp was awarded the 1920 Games as compensation for being turned
into a mess during World War I.

1924: Baron de Coubertin, scheduled to retire as head of the
International Olympic Committee in 1925, finally got the games to
come back to Paris.

1928: A tradition was established in Amsterdam, as the host nation
marched into the opening ceremonies first and Greece last.

1932: Los Angeles proved the games could be profitable, even during
the Great Depression. The 16-day event made $1 million.

1936: The Nazis tried to turn the event into a propaganda device but
U.S. runner Jesse Owens would have none of it, winning four gold
medals.

1948: Japan had other business on its mind in 1940 and the games were
canceled, as were the 1944 Olympics scheduled for London. The 1948
Games went to London.

1952: Finland’s efficient job of hosting the Olympics caused many to
suggest all future games be held in Scandinavia.

1956: The first summer Olympics held in November and December (summer
in the Southern Hemisphere) came off without a hitch in Melbourne –
and without any horses, prevented from entering Australia by strict
quarantine laws.

1960: Rome got its second chance at hosting the games, and put on an
event filled with history (the wrestling was held in a 2,000-year-old
stadium) and drama (the marathon finished under the Arch of
Constantine).

1964: Japan also got its second chance at the games, and the first
Olympics held in Asia were filled with close races and world records.

1968: Holding the games in Mexico City – more than a mile above sea
level – was a controversial choice. Distance runners suffered, but
longstanding world records were set in the long jump (Bob Beamon’s
leap of 29-21/2, which lasted for 22 years) and the men’s 1,600-meter
relay (2:56.16, which stood for 24 years).

1972: The Munich Games were marked by tragedy – the death of 11
Israeli athletes in a terrorist attack – and triumph – Mark Spitz’s
seven gold medals in swimming.

1976: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci posted the first perfect score
in Olympics history, then went on to do it six more times – and earn
three gold medals.

1980: In protest of the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan, the United
States boycotted the games in Moscow, along with 64 other nations.

1984: After the 1972 terrorist attack and the financial losses
incurred by Montreal in 1976, only one city – Los Angeles – even bid
for the 1984 Games. It was the first Olympics since 1896 to be staged
without government funding, and it became a model after it made a
$225 million profit.

1988: South Korea got the second games in Asia off to a dramatic
start, with 1936 marathon winner Sohn Kee-chung running the torch
into the stadium. Sohn had been forced to compete under a Japanese
name in 1936, since Korea had been occupied by Japan.

1992: Basketball’s “Dream Team” made its debut in Barcelona, and the
professionals averaged 117 points a game and never called a time-out.

1996: The centennial games were awarded to Atlanta instead of Athens,
and Carl Lewis made history by winning his fourth gold medal in the
long jump.

2000: Sydney was the site for the largest games in history, with
10,649 athletes and 300 events. Athletes from 80 nations claimed
medals.
David King

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

San Antonio Express , TX
Aug 11 2004

Cary Clack: Cry for help over atrocities in Sudan must not be ignored

Forty years ago, the name of Kitty Genovese became synonymous with
looking the other way while someone suffered.

In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, in a middle-class
neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, Catherine
“Kitty” Genovese was attacked three times in 32 minutes. The
assailant stalked, raped and stabbed her to death.

During the attacks, Genovese screamed, “Please help me! Please help
me!”

A subsequent police investigation revealed that at least 38 people,
in the comfort of their homes, saw or heard the attacks, but no one
came to Genovese’s aid. The one call to the police came after the
murderer had completed his crimes.

Many times, people don’t act in a time of crisis or don’t do anything
to save lives because they’re unaware of the problem. When they are
aware and still do nothing, it can be attributed to physical or moral
cowardice, sheer callousness or the bystander effect, where people
see someone in need but assume someone else will intervene to help.

Doing nothing and assuming someone else will assume responsibility is
a reason why so many crimes flourish in communities throughout this
nation.

Doing nothing and assuming someone else will assume responsibility is
a reason why millions of people in countries around the world suffer
with little hope that they will be emancipated from their pain.

In the 20th century and these infant years of the 21st, there have
been many regions of the world that were the Kitty Genoveses of the
international community; places where cries of “Please help me!
Please help me!” went unheeded or were answered inexcusably late by
nations in a position to help.

Whether the Armenian genocide in 1915-1916, the Holocaust of World
War II, Bosnia during the 1990s or the slaughter in Rwanda in 1994,
reaction to the worst of brutalities was slow.

This column space is rarely filled with topics of foreign affairs but
replace the word “foreign” with “human” and it’s appropriate.

What is happening in Darfur, in the western region of the Sudan, has
been called by the United Nations and human rights organizations the
greatest humanitarian crisis of our time and merits at least a few
words of attention.

The word “genocide” has been aptly used to describe the plight of
black Africans at the hands of Arab militias, the “Janjaweed,” who
are supported by the Sudan’s monstrous blood-soaked government.

More than a million people have been driven off their lands, women
and girls are routinely raped, more than 30,000 have died and the
U.S. Agency for International Development says that hunger and
disease will kill an additional 300,000 before the year is done.

A U.N. resolution gives the government until Aug. 30 to disarm the
militias. A Human Rights Watch report out today says the Sudanese
government’s pledge to stop the atrocities isn’t credible.

People in this and other nations can do what besieged Sudanese
farmers cannot, and that’s to appeal to their elected representatives
to do something and to contribute to agencies providing food and
medicine.

A people’s pain, no matter how close or far away, can’t be ignored.

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Aug 11 2004

YMCA to aid in listening to hotline calls

Help provided in Armenian

By Naush Boghossian
Staff Writer

GLENDALE — The Glendale YWCA has long served English-language
speakers who have called Los Angeles County’s Domestic Violence
Hotline, but it is now reaching out to Armenians across the county
who need their help.
Anybody in the county who calls the hotline — (800) 978-3600 — and
chooses to receive assistance in Armenian will be routed to the YWCA.

The 24-hour hotline, which is administered by the District Attorney’s
Office, struck a partnership with the Glendale YWCA to take calls in
Armenian in an effort to expand the number of languages the hotline
serves.

“We don’t want language to be a barrier when somebody wants
assistance. We want them to be able to contact the hotline regardless
of the language they speak and be able to talk to somebody live who
can help them find safety and shelter,” said Mark Delgado, field
deputy for the district attorney’s bureau of crime prevention and
youth services.

The YWCA was selected because the city of Glendale has the largest
Armenian population in the United States.

The hotline also began serving callers Monday in Tagalog, Khmer,
Japanese and Thai, but translators for those languages will be based
in other areas.

Lida Soulikhan, the program coordinator for the YWCA’s domestic
violence outreach, said the hotline’s service is very important,
because the lack of English skills is a barrier for immigrants
seeking help.

“When people talk in your own language, it’s a key to your heart —
especially for Armenians — and you trust them better and start
opening up to them,” she said.

And there are many Armenians in Los Angeles County who are not
getting the help they need, Soulikhan said.

“We know that there is a huge amount of domestic violence, but we
have to bring down that cultural wall,” she said. “The cultural
belief for Armenians stops them from sharing what’s happening within
their four walls. They don’t know these services, but when it’s
explained to them in Armenian it makes a huge difference.”

The hotline has served callers in English, Spanish, Korean,
Vietnamese Mandarin and Cantonese seven days a week, receiving an
average of 394 calls a month during its first year. Last year, the
hotline received more than 1,350 calls a month.

The annual cost of operating the hotline is $10,000, which is funded
by private donations. Donations can be made payable to the California
Community Foundation, attention D.A. Victim and Crime Prevention
Initiatives, 445 S. Figueroa St., 34th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90071.

Burbank Leader , CA
LATimes.com
Aug 11 2004

Giving it all for their art

Contestants go for the gold at the World Championships of Performing
Arts this week at Hilton Burbank.
By Jackie Conley, The Leader

MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH – Scattered around the Hilton Burbank Airport
and Convention Center on Tuesday morning, vocal competitors and
aspiring actors patiently sat waiting for their turn to represent
their country and impress the judges in the second day of the
competition at the World Championships of Performing Arts.

“The primary thing to do is to develop competitive material,” said
CSM Words and Music producer Shele Sondheim, a judge for the
competition. “The highest high is to come prepared and be really on
top of your game.”

Sondheim said he hopes this competition will spark international
interest in the arts and encourage people to embrace performers like
they do the athletes in the Olympics.

“Music and art is an international language,” Sondheim said.

Ilhama Gulkiyeva has participated in more than 200 competitions
internationally and is a popular singer in her native Azerbaijan,
located between Iran and Russia. But for her, the World Championships
of Performing Arts could bring a significant change in the way the
arts are perceived in her country.

“My president said if we do well here, he will have big prizes
waiting for us when we return,” she said.

Gulkiyeva said the president of her country encourages the performing
arts, and she hopes this will reflect a positive change in the way
artists are viewed around the world.

“It seems like everything is done for athletes and not enough for
performers,” said Griff O’Neil, founder and director of the World
Championships of Performing Arts.

Gospel rap artist Emmanuel Edili, of Nigeria, said out of all the
competitions he’s been in, this one is important because it’s global.

“It helps you to appreciate different artistic styles,” he said.

Edili, 29, said the hardest thing for him in competition is the few
moments before going on stage.

“Because it’s in that moment there that you make a decision whether
or not you’re going to go out there and get through it,” he said.
“But you realize this is the opportunity to show them what you’re
made of.”

Singer Andrey Hovnanyan knows all about these types of opportunities.
At 25, he said he has already performed in several international
competitions in Germany, Japan and Belgium, and has performed in
front of crowds of 8,000 people.

This is the first time the Armenian singer will compete in the World
Championships, and he said he hopes to break into the American
market.

“There’s something special about America,” Hovnanyan said. “It has a
strong influence around the world.”

Hartford Courant , CT
Aug 11 2004

Counted Out?
U.S. Boxing Loses Some Of Its Punch

ATHENS, Greece – There must have been a doozy of an archeological
find among the ancient Athenian ruins recently, because somebody
claims to have unearthed the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

You may have forgotten we have one.

The U.S. boxers are so far off the radar screen, they may have to get
knocked out by a Jennie Finch wild pitch to get on NBC. Coach Basheer
Abdullah said unlike the soccer and some other U.S. national teams,
his boxers have not been booed in foreign lands. Not one chant of
“Osama!” That might be scarier. Maybe nobody cares.

Boxing once was the can’t-miss programming of the Olympics. Nowhere
did the Cold War have more frostbite than inside the canvas ring.
Nowhere was the judging more suspect. Howard Cosell welcomed himself
into America’s living room and, in no time, he had us so geeked up we
wanted to climb into the ring ourselves and knock the smirk off Cuban
Teofilo Stevenson or bury one of those great Slavic bears.

George Foreman waved his tiny American flag.

Cassius Clay threw his gold medal off a bridge into the Ohio River.

Sugar Ray dazzled us. The Spinks boys landed the 1-2 golden punch.
And so many of our boxers – right up through Roy Jones’ colossal
ripoff in 1988 in Seoul – got stern lessons in international
corruption.

It made for unforgettable television. Yep, those were the salad days
of Ed Sullivan of Manhattan, Archie Bunker of Queens and Damoxenos of
Syracuse. Surely, you remember Damoxenos of Syracuse. He’s the boxer
who jabbed his fingers into the rib cage of Kreugas of Epidamnos and
ripped out his intestines. Yeah, some time B.C. in Olympia was the
last time the Americans won a boxing gold medal.

OK, the record book insists it has been eight years. It only seems
like 28 centuries.

Long gone are Cosell, the Cold War and the five gold medal machine of
1976. The U.S. has 47 boxing gold medals, far more than any country,
but 45 came before 1992. Oscar De La Hoya won in Barcelona, David
Reid won in Atlanta and if Howard’s toupee were still above ground,
he’d be going nuts about those numbers.

“It’s very important we have a great performance,” Abdullah said.

“We don’t need to do great, we have to do well,” counters 23-year-old
Jason Estrada of Providence, the first American super heavyweight to
win at the Pan-Am Games. “At least do better than the 2000 team to
help our sport.”

Even that chore might be too much for this young group of nine. The
Americans failed to win a gold medal in 2000 for the first time in 52
years; they did eek out two silver and two bronze. The fact that
Estrada, light heavyweight Andre Ward and middleweight Andre Dirrell
are projected as the only medalists demonstrates how far America has
fallen.

“The disadvantage is we’re young, but I think we have some greater
natural ability than the 2000 team,” Abdullah said. “They tell me
when you’re inexperienced and don’t know any better you have a
tendency to be a little more courageous.”

Speaking of young, Rau’shee Warren, 17, will return to the 12th grade
at Harmony High in Cincinnati after the Olympics. He’s 5-foot-3, 106
pounds, wears a size 4 shoe and the youngest American male in Athens
is so cute you just want to hug him. Compared to the grizzled pugs
from Russia, Cuba and Kazakhstan – the three might sweep the 11 gold
– the Cincinnati Kid and the Americans are babes. Still, they get no
free passes.

There already have been too many excuses … big American kids play
football. Too many leave the amateur ranks at an early age for the
money. Because of the scandals in the professional ranks, the sport
has staggered … yada, yada.

Ward, a boxing aficionado who travels with a DVD to watch great bouts
from the past, did offer one theory to USA Today:

“If I had to choose one thing, it was that [the ’76 Olympic team]
just attacked those other countries at the Olympics. There was no
fear, no doubts.”

Said Estrada: “I don’t know if the problem is talent. Some are born
more talented, but you can make up for it with heart and
conditioning.

“We have a lot of pro boxers out there right now who are making it
hard for the up and comers. A lot of these boxers are going to prison
for beating their wives, robbing and raping. It becomes a stereotype.
The world sees boxing as violent and ignorant. Half the people on
this team are nowhere near that. I know I’m not. It’s hard, but we’re
going to try to fix all of that.”

It is a team with stories begging to be told. Ward works out by
pushing a Cadillac Coup deVille through Oakland and will fight with a
photo of his late father taped to his boot. Ron Siler, already a
father of five at age 24, got out of prison and is turning his life
around. Dirrell is coached by his grandfather, Leon Lawson, who is a
friend and former training partner of Ali. Rock Allen has a twin
named Tiger and a brother named Bear. The only reason the
Armenian-born, home-schooled Vanes Martirosyan made the team was
because Andre Berto threw down Juan McPherson at the Trials. After
three embarrassing flip-flops by USA Boxing, both welterweights were
disqualified.

As for Estrada, he started on the Mount Pleasant High basketball team
as a freshman before he made his career choice.

“I’m a point guard with a good handle,” he said. “But at 255 pounds
everybody thinks I should play center. That’s why I got this tattoo,
Big Six, on my neck. I’m only 6-0, but I’m wide.”

There’s a lot to like about this team, but as of today, there’s no
reason for America to watch. The good news is the boxing finals don’t
end until the last day of the Olympics and the super heavyweight gold
medal bout will be one of Athens’ closing moments. There’s a chance
for Estrada and the two Andres to make everlasting impressions in
Everlast.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Estrada said. “Money is a big
incentive for me, besides the gold medal and fighting for my country.
I have a 3-year-old son, Lennox, and I have to take care of him. Ever
since he was born, I’ve been on a winning streak. Everything I do is
for him. He’s the reason why I want to get that gold medal.

“But we need silver and bronze, too. We need medals, period.”

Boston Globe, MA
Aug 11 2004

Yogurt: The culture catches on
It’s creamy, satisfying, and healthy, and Americans are finally
diving in
By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

ANDOVER — The story is familiar to anyone who has seen Bob and Alice
Colombosian mug for the camera in those jaunty commercials for the
company they sold long ago. This country’s first commercially made
yogurt dates back to 1929 and to the Andover farm where Bob’s mother,
Rose, first heated up milk on a wooden stove, stirred in some starter
from her native Armenia, and let the cultures work their magic.

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These days, the Colombosians have retired to the site of the former
farm here, and Colombo Yogurt is made by Yoplait-Colombo, a division
of General Mills and the top player in a $2.8 billion industry that
is growing as rapidly as the bacteria that turn milk into yogurt. The
industry, in fact, has gone against the trend of other dairy
products: While US consumption of milk dropped by almost 13 percent
between 1992 and 2002, per capita consumption of yogurt was up by 64
percent, continuing a steady rise since the 1950s.

The most tangible evidence of the explosion is lined up in the
supermarket dairy case. Where once a handful of companies sold a few
varieties, consumers now face an array of choices that is starting to
resemble the European model. Drinks, desserts, and products aimed at
babies and kids are driving the growth. “There’s squeezable,
drinkable — I haven’t seen wearable yet — but just about everything
else,” says Gary Hirshberg, president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, the
New Hampshire company that has become the No. 3 seller of yogurt
nationwide and is top in the natural category. Yogurt has been around
for at least 4,000 years and has long been a staple of the Middle
Eastern and European diets. Americans are relatively late to the
party. “We can’t claim to have invented this craze,” Hirshberg says.
“If you go to Europe, not only will you see 100 meters of shelf space
relative to the 20 meters that we have in the US dedicated to yogurt,
but you’ll also see as much as 50 percent of the shelf there is now
in drinkable form.”

The influence is starting to go both ways, though, as European
companies look to the US market, not only for sales but for lessons.
Group Danone, the French company that makes Dannon, recently bought a
majority stake in Stonyfield Farm. But Hirshberg says a unique
arrangement leaves him in control of the board and the company’s
direction. Danone has brought him to European plants to tell the
story of how Stonyfield has managed to become 80 percent organic
while reaching $163 million in annual sales.

The United States still has a long way to go before it catches Europe
in all things yogurt. In Spain, Hirshberg says, Dannon’s
super-cultured yogurt drink Actimel outsells Coca-Cola, and that’s
because Europeans have long understood yogurt’s health benefits,
which have been studied and trumpeted for centuries. One benefit is
that yogurt is an excellent source of calcium and protein, but it’s
the live and active cultures that make it unique. Some yogurts have
other cultures, but they all contain lactobacillus bulgaricus and
streptococcus thermophilus, which convert milk sugar (lactose) into
lactic acid, giving yogurt its tart taste and thickened texture.

Evidence has shown benefits to gastrointestinal health and the immune
system, and yogurt is easier to digest than milk for people with
lactose intolerance, says Simin Meydani, Tufts University professor
of nutrition. In two reviews of previous studies, Meydani and her
colleagues call for further research to better understand yogurt’s
benefits. “We need to conduct larger studies,” she says.

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Some companies include more than the basic two cultures in the little
plastic containers, partly because different cultures are linked to
different benefits. The National Dairy Council says yogurt cultures
may improve intestinal health, protect against ulcers, lower
cholesterol, enhance immunity, and even protect against certain
cancers. Stonyfield Farm, for one, includes six cultures, and adds a
natural fiber to help increase calcium absorption.

With so many differences among the brands, the National Yogurt
Association advises health-conscious consumers to read labels. Some
yogurts are heat-treated after fermentation, meaning that all those
potentially beneficial cultures are killed. The association has
established a special seal for products that contain a minimum amount
of live and active cultures and is petitioning the Food and Drug
Administration to establish a clearer standard. “We want customers to
be assured that if they buy something called yogurt, it has a certain
amount of dairy product in it, and a specific amount of live and
active cultures in it,” says the association’s president, Leslie
Sarasin.

Consumers, meanwhile, are divided between newer converts, who may be
more inclined to eat the flavored varieties, and the faithful, who
prefer things plain and are buyers of the large 32-ounce containers.

Maxine Wolfson of Cranston, R.I., is something of a purist. She first
ate yogurt as a teenager in the 1970s when visiting Israel, in the
form of a drained variety the Israelis call labneh. Wolfson, now 50,
still sometimes strains the liquid from her yogurt to achieve a
similar cream-cheese consistency. “I’ll spread it on bread and put
honey on it, or a slice of cheese with herbs and spices, and make a
sandwich,” she says. She has always preferred the plain variety,
mixed with muesli in the morning and as a substitute for sour cream
or mayonnaise in recipes. Her daughter, 12-year-old Meri, though, has
gone a different direction. “When she was little, she would eat the
plain stuff with fruit, but now she has to have the kind that has 12
scoops of sugar in it,” Wolfson says.

Sugar or not, yogurt certainly beats a bag of chips when it comes to
snacking. And according to research by the NPD Group, yogurt is at
the forefront of a trend toward healthier eating among children. The
average child under 13 ate yogurt 11 more times in 2003 than in 1999.

The truest purists, of course, make their own. The Colombosians
demonstrate the technique in the Andover kitchen that was once part
of the company’s farm. They heat up whole milk on the stovetop, stir
in nonfat dry milk for extra body, cool it down, then add a few
tablespoons of plain yogurt as a starter. They pour the mixture into
empty yogurt containers — Colombo, of course — and let them sit in
a barely warm oven for a few hours. “The shorter the set, the finer
the taste, the sweeter,” says Bob, 78. “The longer the set, the
tarter.”

While they wait for the cultures to do their thing — about three
hours or so — Alice, 75, opens the refrigerator and pulls out a bowl
of fruit and three little cups of Colombo: lemon meringue, orange
creme, and cherry vanilla. “I prefer plain yogurt, and so do my
children,” she says. “But not the grandchildren. They like these.”

It’s not only children whose reluctant palates sometimes need a
little nudge to try yogurt. Wolfson says her husband, Paul, would
make “unprintable” comments to describe what he thought of the food
— until she left some strained yogurt in the refrigerator’s cheese
drawer one day. “He said, `Hey! This stuff’s good! What is it?’ “

IDEX Online, Israel
Aug 11 2004

Armenia’s Diamond Polishing Drops in Value

(August 11, ’04, 5:23 Edahn Golan)

Armenia’s diamond polishing efforts fell 17 percent during the first
half of the year to 63.1 billion dram ($113.7 million) while
increasing in weight.

Karen Chshmaritian, Armenia’s Trade and Economic Development
Minister, says the increase in carat output is due to stronger global
demand for smaller gems.

Armenia has imported 70,000 carats of rough diamonds from Russia
under a government-to-government agreement during the first six
months of the year

Armenia is interested in importing up to 400,000 carats of rough
diamonds this year under the agreement with Russia.

Cape Times – South Africa
Aug 11 2004

Symphony Concert

By Deon Irish

Thursday, August 5, City Hall; CPO conducted by Leslie B Dunner,
soloists Suren Bagratuni, Beverley Chiat; Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B
minor, Op 104; Mahler: Symphony No 4 in G major.

Even the miserable winter conditions did not prevent a pleasantly
full – even if not packed – house for a neatly balanced programme of
symphonic masterpieces, sponsored by Cape Gate on the occasion of its
75th anniversary.

Dvorak’s glorious concerto was written in the last months of his
three-year stay in New York, a period which also produced the popular
symphony From the New World to be featured in this week’s concert.

It is the work of a composer at the height of his creative powers
and, more pertinently, self-confidence. In the case of the finale,
for example, he was unmoved in withstanding the pressures of his
technical adviser, the cellist Hans Wihan, and of his publisher,
neither of whom cared for the relatively quiet concluding measures of
the work.

A concluding cadenza was suggested – even written out by Wihan – but
the composer was adamant: “I will give you my work only if you
promise not to allow anyone to make changes – friend Wihan not
excepted…”

Dvorak’s judgment has stood the test of time and in this performance,
the Armenian-born cellist, Suren Bagratuni, demonstrated just why the
work retains its prime status in the cello repertoire.

It does require a neat partnership between soloist and conductor for
the orchestration, cunningly tailored to the soloist’s needs, has
nevertheless the potential to overwhelm. On this occasion, orchestral
climaxes were repeatedly too brass-dominated in scale, resulting in a
somewhat unbalanced overall architecture.

The soloist displayed considerable artistry on his instrument, with
an admirable purposefulness which ensured that the solo line remained
consistently focused. Bowing was many-faceted and intonation secure.

But the greater pleasure came from personal touches which, through
subtle alterations of tempo and the infusion of a rhapsodic element,
gave individual personality to a well-known score.

Accompaniment featured many good things – including some fine horn
solos and finely controlled soft trumpet chords – but there was some
indifferent ensemble – not least in the final crescendo, which only
just held together.

The visiting American conductor, Leslie B Dunner, then took centre
stage for the Mahler 4th Symphony and demonstrated a facility with
the score which proved ingratiating. The work is Mahler’s shortest
and happiest symphony; and has as its genesis a rejected seventh
movement for his already monumental third symphony!

The movement was to be called What the Child tells me and, in this
symphony, it becomes the final revelation of all that goes before, a
song in which the soprano replicates the
innocent joy of a child’s vision of heaven, presenting an uncannily
contemporary obsession with culinary ingredients.

Beverley Chiat sang with musicality and a joyful intent, in most part
capturing the composer’s direction to replicate a childlike
brilliance.

This is a work in which the self-gnawing angst which beset the
composer was, for a brief while, operating at only fractional
strength.

But the morbidities are there; the acerbic tunes and neurotic
accompaniments abound and, even if it does culminate in a child-like
vision, we are constrained to admit that it is a very odd child.

Dunner led the orchestra in a generally assured and frequently
insightful account of the score; but, such anguish as there was
seemed (perhaps understandably) that of a rather different oppression
from that understood by the composer. The same old story, but told
with a somewhat different accent.